Oral history interview with Billy Ray Hall, January 20, 2000
Subtitle: interview K-0509, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)
Contributors: Thompson, Charles D., Jr. (Charles Dillard), 1956- interviewer; Southern Oral History Program; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Documenting the American South (Project); University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library
Edition: Electronic ed.
Publisher: University Library, UNC-Chapel Hill
Published: 2005
Place of publication: [Chapel Hill, N.C.]
Language: eng
Subjects: Interviews; Hurricane Floyd, 1999; Floods; Flood damage; Crisis management in government; Emergency management; Disaster relief; Crop losses; Livestock; Losses; Hurricane Fran, 1996; Politics and government; North Carolina Rural Economic Development Center; United States. Federal Emergency Management Agency; United States
Other titles: Interview K-0509, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007); Interview with Billy Ray Hall, January 20, 2000; Oral histories of the American South.
Description: Billy Ray Hall, as President of the Rural Economic Development Center, coordinated North Carolina's clean-up and recovery efforts after Hurricane Floyd. In this information-rich interview, Hall discusses the scope of the damage in eastern North Carolina. He focuses on the economic effects of the flood, but briefly discusses the environmental impact as well, claiming that the much-feared hog lagoon flooding actually had only marginal impact. Hall describes how a lack of preparation stifled North Carolina's response to flooding and wind damage, but he thinks the ongoing recovery effort is going well and is optimistic about North Carolina's future preparedness. Hall does not describe at any length how North Carolinians affected by the flood responded to the disaster and its aftermath, and he does not go into detail about on-the-ground rebuilding programs. This interview would be well complemented by one that offers more depth on individual subjects, such as farm recovery or home construction.
Notes: Title from menu page (viewed on June 15, 2007).

Interview participants: Charles Thompson, interviewer; Billy Ray Hall, interviewee.

Duration: 00:45:25.

This electronic edition is part of the UNC-CH digital library, Documenting the American South.  It is a part of the collection Oral histories of the American South.

Text encoded by Apex Data Services, Inc., Natalia Smith and Mike Millner.  Sound recordings digitized by Steve Weiss and Seth M. Kotch.

Text (HTML and XML/TEI source file) and audio (MP3); 2 files: ca. 90.7 kilobytes, 83.2 megabytes.

Original version: Southern Oral History Program Collection, (#4007), Series K, Southern communities, interview K-0509, Manuscripts Department, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Transcribed by Tony Young. Original transcript: 28 p.

Funding from the University of North Carolina Library supported the electronic publication of this interview.

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

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